Bears hold grip over Dalal Street

Bears were holding a tight grip over the Dalal Street in late morning session, with both Sensex and Nifty trading in deep red. Negative cues from other Asian markets impacted domestic sentiments. Traders remained cautious, amid a private report stating that the initial or short term impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine for India will be experienced through inflationary pressures as the country is dependent on imported oil. Besides, the data from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) showed that India's cashless retail transactions on UPI platform were worth Rs 8.27 lakh crore in February, slightly lower than the amount recorded in the previous month.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, even after the manufacturing sector in South Korea continued to expand in February, and at a faster pace, the latest survey from Markit Economics showed on Wednesday with a manufacturing PMI score of 53.8. That's up from 52.8 in January, and it moves further above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 55326.55, down by 920.73 points or 1.64% after trading in a range of 55272.22 and 55755.09. There were 6 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.01%, while Small cap index was up by 0.31%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 4.69%, Basic Materials up by 1.43%, Utilities up by 1.27%, Oil & Gas up by 1.17% and Power up by 1.14%, while Bankex down by 2.88%, Auto down by 1.60%, Telecom down by 1.19%, Consumer discretionary down by 1.03% and Realty down by 0.98% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 5.63%, Titan Co up by 2.08%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.21%, Power Grid up by 0.07% and Nestle up by 0.01%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 4.51%, Asian Paints down by 4.36%, ICICI Bank down by 4.24%, HDFC Bank down by 3.69% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 2.90% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the growth of eight core infrastructure industries grew 3.7 per cent in January 2022 as against 1.3 per cent in the same month last year on better show by coal, natural gas and cement industries. The core sector industries had grown by 4.1 per cent in December 2021. The Eight Core Industries - coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilizers, steel, cement and electricity - comprise 40.27 percent of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).    

Coal production having 10.33 per cent weight increased by 8.2 per cent in January, 2022 over January, 2021 and its cumulative index increased by 10.3per cent during April to January,2021-22 over corresponding period of the previous year. Natural Gas production having 6.88 per cent weight increased by 11.7 per cent in January, 2022 over January, 2021 and its cumulative index increased by 21.2 per cent during April to January, 2021-22 over the corresponding period of previous year. Petroleum Refinery production having 28.04 per cent weight increased by 3.7 per cent in January, 2022 over January, 2021 and its cumulative index increased by 9.3 per cent during April to January, 2021-22over the corresponding period of previous year.

Steel production having 17.92 per cent weight increased by 2.8 per cent in January, 2022 over January, 2021. Its cumulative index increased by 19.9 per cent during April to January, 2021-22 over the corresponding period of previous year. Cement production having 5.37 per cent weight increased by 13.6 per cent in January, 2022 over January, 2021 and its cumulative index increased by 24.6 per cent during April to January, 2021-22 over the corresponding period of previous year. Electricity generation having 19.85 per cent weight increased by 0.5 per cent in January, 2022 over January, 2021 and its cumulative index increased by 8.5 per cent during April to January, 2021-22 over the corresponding period of previous year.

On the flip side, Crude Oil production having 8.98 per cent weight declined by 2.4 per cent in January, 2022over January, 2021 and its cumulative index declined by 2.6 per cent during April to January, 2021-22over the corresponding period of previous year. Fertilizers production having 2.63 weight declined by 2.0 per cent in January, 2022 over January, 2021 and its cumulative index decreased by 0.3 per cent during April to January, 2021-22 over the corresponding period of previous year.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 16565.55, down by 228.35 points or 1.36% after trading in a range of 16545.50 and 16678.50. There were 12 stocks advancing against 38 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Coal India up by 6.78%, Hindalco up by 6.20%, Tata Steel up by 5.66%, UPL up by 4.38% and SBI Life Insurance up by 4.05%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 4.52%, Asian Paints down by 4.46%, ICICI Bank down by 4.28%, HDFC Bank down by 3.68% and Bajaj Auto down by 3.32% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 445.69 points or 1.66% to 26,399.03, Hang Seng decreased 243.53 points or 1.07% to 22,518.18, Jakarta Composite lost 40.39 points or 0.58% to 6,881.05, Taiwan Weighted dropped 36.07 points or 0.2% to 17,862.18, Straits Times trembled 16.50 points or 0.5% to 3,262.13 and Shanghai Composite declined 14.38 points or 0.41% to 3,474.45. On the flip side, KOSPI rose 13.10 points or 0.49% to 2,712.28.